When Jesus was born pales in comparison to why Jesus was born. Scripture supports this. Consider the following. We know the exact day some events took place in the Old Testament…
- Haggai delivered his 1st message Aug 29, 520BC (Hag 1:1).
- Zechariah delivered his 2nd message Feb 15, 519BC (Zech 1:7).
- The temple was completed Mar 12, 515BC (Ezra 6:15).
- Nehemiah left to rebuild the walls on Mar 14, 445BC (Neh 2:1).
- Using Daniel’s Seventy Weeks we even know the day Jesus’ Triumphal Entry took place: Apr 6, 32AD (Dan 9:25, Luke 19:44).
Second only to the crucifixion, the most important event in history is Christ’s birth. But we don’t know the day or month Jesus was born. Not it wasn’t December. We know the day some prophets delivered messages about Jesus (Haggai 2:1 – Oct 17, 520BC). But we don’t but we don’t even know the year Jesus was born.
Luke’s Gospel provides us with specific details about Christ’s birth down to what He was wearing and where He slept: swaddling clothes and in a manger (Luke 2:12)…but no year? Why would God give us details like this and allow us to know the dates of events that pale in comparison in terms of significances, but keep the date of Christ’s birth from us? God could’ve let us know. Easily. Apparently when Jesus was born means nothing compared to why Jesus was born. The fact that Jesus was born is infinitely more important than when He was born.
The sad part isn’t that the world celebrates Christ’s birth when it didn’t really happen while doing everything it can to make sure Christmas has nothing to do with the Christ they’re supposedly celebrating. The sad part is when Christians become distracted by everything the world tries to make Christmas about instead of Christ.
When Christmas rolls around, make sure you don’t let this happen: let’s make sure you don’t let the world obscure Christ from us by putting our focus on things that have nothing to do with Christ. Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. I’m all for the food, family and fellowship that are afforded around the holidays, but let’s remember what it should really be about: When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those under the Law that we might receive the adoption as sons (Gal 4:4, 5).
Here’s the sermon I preached on December 21, 2014 on Galatians 3:19-4:6: “In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son.”
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I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that we celebrate Christmas on 12/25 as a means of superseding the pagan festival of Sol Invictus (Unconquerable Sun). It was a pagan solstice festival, celebrating that the tide had turned and the days were getting longer. So, since Jesus is the light of the world, it seemed appropriate to the ancients to place the feast of the coming of the light on an existing feast of the returning of the light. Very economical.
Greetings again Kevin,
Actually, no, I didn’t know Christmas related to Sol Invictus; I thought the day was chosen from Saturnalia, the winter solstice…unless that is Sol Invictus? When Rome was “Christianized” the Roman Church converted Saturnalia to a “Christian holiday” to celebrate Christ’s birth. At least that was my understanding?
By the way, I’ve begun checking out your blog and the commentary you’ve made available.
In Christ,
Scott